Paying the Living Wage

NHSBT branches have campaigned for many years to try to get agreement with their employer that any contractors they use employ staff on at least the Living wage. Conference welcomes growing numbers of NHS trusts and employers committing to become living wage employers both by paying their own staff at least the living wage but […]

Protect NHSBT as a public service

Conference welcomes the Partnership agreement between UNISON and NHSBT signed at the end of 2015 where UNISON agreed to promote and publicise amongst its members the organ donation register and the blood donation service. UNISON agreed to support NHSBT as the values it is built on are the founding values of the NHS. Ordinary people […]

Safe Movement of Blood across the NHS

Whilst Conference generally welcomes the role that charities play in our society it expresses concern that increasingly NHS trust are turning to the free Motorbike charities for the movement of blood across the NHS instead of using the professional drivers employed 24/7 by NHSBT itself. Whilst UNISON members who are drivers employed by NHSBT are […]

OPPOSING PROPOSALS IN THE MAY 2016 QUEEN’S SPEECH

Conference notes that on 18th May 2016 the Government’s proposals to force maintained schools to become academies in England were announced alongside limits on local authorities’ role in school improvement and a revised national funding formula for schools. The stated aim in these proposals is for all schools to become academies with the Secretary of […]

Decision of the UNISON NJC committee to accept two

Conference deplores the decision of the National Joint Council (NJC) Committee, on 27 April 2016, on a divided vote, to accept the pay offer from the employers for local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (the Local Government Association – LGA). This decision is deeply flawed for a number of reasons: 1. The […]

Devolution and Combined Authorities

Conference notes the development of the devolution agenda and further notes that: 1)Local government is a devolved matter in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; 2)The Scotland Bill devolves more powers to the Scottish Parliament from April 2017, the Wales Act 2014 devolves some tax and borrowing powers to the Wales Government National Assembly for Wales […]

Local Government Finance and Protecting Members Jobs

Conference is aware that local authorities are in unprecedented financial times. Conference notes: 1)the major changes taking place in the role of local government; 2)the government has now announced that it will end contributions from the national taxpayer through the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) from 2020/21 and the reduction in revenue support grant of more […]

CHALLENGING A TWO-TIER WORKFORCE IN SOCIAL CARE

Conference notes that the commissioning and provision of social care across the UK is delivered in different ways .In Northern Ireland health and social care is an integrated system. This has meant that NHS social care workers have benefitted from the Agenda for Change pay system. In contrast, those working in private provision are exploited […]

Transfer of Public Health commissioning to local councils in England

Conference notes the successive transfers of commissioning responsibility for Public Health from the NHS in England to local councils since the abolition of PCTs. The most recent was the responsibility for Children & Young People’s (0-19) Health and Wellbeing (mainly School Nursing and Health Visiting) on 1st October 2015. We also note: i)the ‘in year’ […]

Protection for Whistleblowers in NHS

This Conference is aware of the stress placed on a member when they access the whistleblowing process. A decision to whistleblow is often the result of much soul searching by the Member(s) and is made more difficult when they see the effects on other people who have ‘whistleblown’. This can lead to: • suspension from […]

Defend Our NHS Migrant Workforce

Conference notes there is no doubt that we are living in challenging times. Austerity has seen a vicious scapegoating campaign with the likes of Ukip, Britain First and the Daily Mail using this agenda to promote the idea that black people, Muslims, immigrants, refugees and other minorities are responsible for the deteriorating economic situation. Conference […]

Raising Standards of Cleanliness in NHS

This conference recognises the critical importance of maintaining and improving standards of cleanliness throughout the NHS with particular emphasis in clinical areas. A quality environment for health care should not be a luxury but an essential element of every patients treatment. UNISON members working in Hospital Cleaning Services have continually shown 100% commitment and professionalism […]

The interpretation of NHS E-Expenses and levels of travel scheme

The introduction of e-expenses has simplified claiming for expenses for staff that travel a lot with their role as there is an app that you can get on your phone to make this really simple as you start it everytime you get into your car. Unfortunately, travel is paid at the shortest route and this […]

Recruiting and the over reliance on agency staff.

Staff shortages in the NHS and cuts to public sector budgets have caused an over reliance on Agency Staff to fill the skills gap in the NHS. Most of these staff are former NHS workers who were made redundant in the last few years. The cost of Agency Staff is much higher than employing a […]

ONE UNION – ONE PAY STRATEGY

Conference notes that the Pay Review Body recommendation in 2014/2015 was treated differently by the government in all four parts of the UK and led to detrimental variations in the pay rates across the countries. This was repeated in 2015/2016. The consequences for our members in Northern Ireland are that we now have the lowest […]